Banding apparatus for stacked articles

ABSTRACT

APPARATUS FOR ADHERING A BAND AROUND STACKED ARTICLES SUCH AS LABELS, FACING SLIPS AND THE LIKE WHEREIN A COMBINATION OF CLAMPING JAWS OPERATING TO ADHERE ENDS OF THE BANDS AROUND INDIVIDUAL STACKS AND SEVER THE BANDS BETWEEN STACKS, AND TRANSPORT CLAWS ENGAGE THE BANDED STACK TO ADVANCE IT ALONG A TROUGH TO A DISCHARGE POSITION. HEATING ELEMENTS ARE PROVIDED FOR THE CLAMPING JAWS AND THE SIDES OF THE TROUGH IF THE BANDS ARE OF HEAT-SEAL TYPE.

May 25, 1971 DQANE ETAL BANDING APPARATUS FOR STACKED ARTICLES 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 30, 1967 152 Z/ n to r5, a/ames E 20a 7: e Rofierl C She ri/f y 25, 1971 J. E. DOANE ETAL BANDING APPARATUS FOR STACKED ARTICLES 7 Sheets-Sheet z Filed June 30, 1957 IV/ //////A I fizdnfons: James Efloazze z oberz C. 7zeriff ww NW wm May 25, 1971 DQANE EI'AL.

BANYDING APPARATUS FOR STACKED ARTIcLEs;

7 Sheets-Sheet 4.

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6 in J g w n. ME M Wuwwm WK. N a W? J MM Filed June 30, 1967 afl//////////////////////-//////X///// W J. E. DOANE ETAL BANDING APPARATUS FOR STACKED ARTICLES May 25, 1971 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 30, 1967 flzz/lzlorsx Jam es [.Doane IE Faber! (f Sheri/7' May 25, 1971 J DOANE ET AL 3,580,786

BANDING APPARATUS FOR STACKED ARTICLES Filed June 30, 1967 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 P0616? F P08. GM! 1 (CLAWS 1035) c msawv 5.12.

United States Patent O BANDING APPARATUS F R STACKED ARTICLES James E. Duane, 340 13th Ave. S., Naples, Fla. 33940,

and Robert C. Sheriff, 1401 Elm Ave., Round Lake, Ill. 60073 Filed June 30, 1967, Ser. No. 650,296

Int. Cl. B65b 13/06; B65c l/04 US. Cl. 156-475 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for adhering a band around stacked articles such as labels, facing slips and the like wherein a combination of clampnig jaws operate to adhere ends of the bands around individual stacks and sever the bands between stacks, and transport claws engage the banded stack to advance it along a trough to a discharge position. Heating elements are provided for the clamping jaws and the sides of the trough if the bands are of heat-seal type.

One object of the invention is to provide a banding apparatus for stacked articles which comprises a trough adapted to have a pair of banding elements moved into the trough along the side walls thereof by the articles as they are stacked therein.

Another object is to provide means for manipulating the pair of banding elements to adhere portions thereof together behind the stack of articles comprising a pair of clamp jaws movable toward each other in a direction laterally of the trough to engage portions of the banding elements and bend such portions behind the stack of articles and thereafter clamp predetermined areas of these portions into adhering relation to each other.

Still another object is to provide the clamp jaws with severing means for the banding elements at positions intermediate the limits of said areas.

A further object is to provide a novel type of severing means built into the clamping jaws and effective to sever the banding elements after the jaws have clamped them together Still a further object is to provide opposed transport claws which engage the rear end of a stack of articles, then advance to bodily move the completed stack to a discharge position, and then return to engage the rear end of the next successive stack of articles.

An additional object is to provide means for reciprocating the clamping jaws in opposite directions comprising slides carrying the jaws and a centrally pivoted lever having its ends operatively connected with the respective slides.

Another additional object is to provide means for oscillating the pivoted lever comprising an actuating shaft, and a jaw cam mounted thereon and operatively connected with the pivoted lever.

Still another additional object is to provide the clamp jaws and the side walls of the trough with heating elements when the apparatus is used for handing a stack of articles with banding elements which are coated with heat sensitive adhesive.

A further additional object is to provide the transport claws mounted on a carriage, and cam means on the actuating shaft to reciprocate the carriage and pivot the claws relative to the carriage.

Still a further additional object is to provide first and second levers for the carriage and the transport claws with a novel arrangement to increase the pivoting action of the claws by pivoting the second lever to the first lever so that the cam action of the cam for the first lever is added to the cam action of the cam for the second lever.

With these and other objects in view, our invention ice consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of our banding apparatus for stacked articles whereby the objects above contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in our claims and illustrated in detail on the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an end elevation of our banding apparatus looking at the stacked-article discharge end thereof.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing the major portion of the apparatus in plan view.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1 to show an actuating shaft, cams mounted thereon and other details.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3 showing a control switch for certain heating elements of the apparatus, and a cam on the actuating shaft therefor.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view on the line 5-5 of FIG. 2 showing banding elements being clamped prior to being severed.

FIG. 6 illustrates a fragmentary portion of FIG. 5 with the parts in a different position when the banding elements are severed after clamping.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view on the line 7-7 of FIG. 5 showing the clamping action.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 8-8 of FIG. 5 showing an overtravel connection for one of the clamping jaws.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a stack of articles banded in accordance with the banding method herein disclosed, and accomplished by the apparatus herein disclosed.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view on the line 10-10 of FIG. 1 showing a reciprocating carriage and pivoted transport claws carried thereby.

FIG. 11 is a vertical sectional view on the line 11-11 of FIG. 10- to show further details of the carriage and transport claws.

FIG. 12 is a semi-diagrammatic view showing the cams for actuating the carriage and the transport claws, and showing various progressive positions of the claws during a cycle of operation which completes the banding of a stack of articles of predetermined size.

FIG. 13 is a similar view showing the cams and associated parts in a different position.

FIG. 14 is a view showing the essential parts of a carriage actuating lever of FIG. 13.

FIG. 15 is a similar view showing the essential parts of the transport claw actuating lever of FIG. 13.

FIG. 16 is a diagrammatic plan view showing articles being stacked and already enclosed along three sides by a pair of handing elements.

FIG. 17 shows the fourth side being enclosed by clamping jaws which adhere certain areas of the banding elements together and sever them so that the trans port claws can move the completed stack of articles to a discharge position; and

FIG. 18 shows the transport claws moving the completed stack of articles to discharge position.

On the accompanying drawings I have used the reference numeral 10 to indicate a channel-shaped trough (see FIG. 1) adapted to have a pair of handing elements 12 and 14 (see FIG. 16) moved into the trough and along the side walls thereof by the articles as they are stacked in the trough. The banding elements may becontinuously supplied from supply rolls 12a and 14a thereof which are freely rotatable except provided with some degree of frictional constraint to prevent too-free unreeling from the supply rolls. Stacked articles 16 are illustrated (FIG. 16) whic may be labels, facing slips or the like cut from a continuous strip 16a by a cut-off unit 18 forming no part of our present invention. The cut-01f unit 18 includes means for cutting labels or the like (see FIG. 9 as one example) from the continuous strip 16a fed from a reel or the like. The cut-off unit includes a stacker head 20 as shown in FIG. 16 mounted on a reciprocating stackerplunger 22 having a throw indicated at 25 so that each label cut from the strip 16a is transferred along the trough 10 to the stack of articles as shown. Accordingly the stacker head, through the articles 16, causes a gradual advance of the stack and a wrapping of the banding elements 12 and 14 around three sides of the stack because of the advance ends of the banding elements being adhered together as indicated at 24 from a previous operation as will hereinafter appear.

When a predetermined number of articles 16 are stacked as determined by a counter or the like the cutoff unit and its stacker may be stopped and our banding apparatus operated through a cycle as hereinafter described which cycle results in the operation of significant parts of the banding apparatus as will now be further described in connection with FIGS. 16, 17 and 18.

In FIG. 16 a pair of clamping jaws 26 and 28 are illustrated, and also a pair of transport claws 30 and 32. Operation will be described before going on to describe the details of the apparatus. It will be noted the clamping jaws and transport claws are spread apart.

When the predetermined number of stacked articles 16 are assembled, the stacker head 20 of the cut-ofl? unit 18 is stopped in the position shown in FIG. 17 and the clamping jaws 26 and 28 approach each other until they adhere an area represented by reference numerals 24a plus 2417 together, the facing surfaces of the banding elements 12 and 14 being provided with either pressuresensitive adhering material or material which may be adhered upon the presence of moisture or heat.

In FIG. 16 a knife blade 34 is illustrated in a recess of clamping jaw 26, and in FIG. 17 the knife blade is shown extended. The operation of the apparatus is such that first the adjacent ends of the jaws 26 and 28 clamp both adhered portions 24a and 2% together, and then the knife passes through the adhered portions to sever them into the individual adhered portions 24a and 24b shown in FIG. 18. Thus, the completed banded stack of articles (which may now be identified as A) is ready for movement along the trough 10 to a discharge position or into a discharge chute or conveyor as desired. The completely banded stack of articles is also illustrated at A in FIG. 9.

The transport claws 30 and 3-2, during the stacking of the articles 18, move (arrows a) from certain positions in FIG. 16 indicated POS. D, E and N to those indicated POS. G and N, and then as the clamp jaws 2'6 and 28 move (arrows b) to the position of FIG. 17 the claws move to P08. G and M. Now the transport claws (arrow c in FIG. 18) move from POS. G and M in FIG. 17 to P08. H and M in FIG. 18, thus moving the completed banded stack A along the trough 10 for discharge from the banding apparatus.

FIG. 1 at the upper left portion thereof illustrates the clamp jaws 26 and 28, and the transport claws 30 and 32. It will be noted that the transport claws are made in pairs so as to straddle the clamp jaws for the purpose of keeping the stack A squarely upright as it is slid by the transport claws along the trough 10. The mechanism which carries the clamp jaws 26 and 28' is best shown in FIG. 5 wherein it will be noted the clamp jaw 26 is mounted on an upper slide 38 and the clamp jaw 28 is mounted on a lower slide 40. The slides 38 and 40 are slotted as shown and the sides of the slots ride on rollers 42 journalled on a vertical frame plate 44 as shown in FIG. 3. The frame plate 44 is part of a housing for the apparatus as shown throughout several figures of the drawings.

The slides 38 and 40 are reciprocated in opposite directions by means of a centrally pivoted lever 46 (see FIG. 5) connected by a link 48 and a clamp 50 to the slide 38, and by a link 52 and a clamp 54 to the slide 40. The clamps 50 and 54 permit adjustment as between the slides and the links, and the clamp 54 is provided with a lost-motion, spring-biased, overtravel connection to the link 52 as illustrated in detail in FIG. 8. A plunger 56 is slidable in a bore of the clamp 54 and pivoted on a pin 58 extending from the link 52. The left hand end of the plunger 56 is normally engaged with a stop 60 under the action of a spring pressed plunger 62 engaging its left hand end, the plunger being slidable in a sleeve 64 within which a spring 66 for the plunger is located.

With respect to the construction of the clamp jaws 26 and 28, the jaw 26 is slidable on the slide 38 as shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 being spring biased in a left hand direction by a spring 68. A shearing shoulder 36 is formed by one side of a slot 70 in the clamp jaw 28 and this clamp jaw is adjustably mounted in a vertical extension 74 by means of four set screws 76 in order to accurately locate the shearing shoulder 46 in relation to a cut-off knife blade 34. The left hand end, of the jaw 26 is preferably serrated as shown at 72 in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 to increase the effectiveness of the clamping and adhering action thereof on the adhered portions 24a and 24b of the banding elements 12 and 14.

In the operation of the clamp jaws 26 and 28, when they are moved from the position of FIG. 16 toward the position of FIG. 17 according to the arrows b in FIG. 17, they first engage the areas 24a and 24b of the banding elements 12 and 14 while the knife blade 34 is in a position of non-projection with respect to the jaw 26 as shown by dotted lines in FIG. 5 and as also shown in FIGS. 7 and 16 with the left hand end of the plunger 56 in FIG. 8 in contact with the stop 60. Upon slight further pivoting of the lever 46 the plunger 56 will move away from the stop 60 as illustrated, the spring 66 serving to keep the jaw 28 in contact with the banding element 14, and upon further pivoting of the lever 46 the slide 38 will move toward the left to propel the knife blade 34 to the severing position shown dotted in FIG. 6 and also in FIG. 17, and with the spring 68 under further compression as shown in FIG. 6. Thus overtravel of the jaw 26 with respect to the jaw 28 is permitted by the connection between the link 52 and the clamp 54 illustrated in FIG. 8, the plunger 56 at that time being moved further toward the right and further compressing the spring 66.

For oscillating the lever 46 a horizontally disposed lever 78 shown in FIG. 2 is provided, the same being pivotedat 80 to the mechanism housing through a suitable adjustable bracket 82. The lever 78 carries a roller 84 urged to engage the cam surface of a clamping jaw cam 86 by a spring 88. The clamping jaw cam 86 is mounted on an actuating shaft 87 rotatable in bearings '89 as best shown in FIG. 3, and the shaft is operatively connected by a onerevolution clutch to a driven pulley 93-. The pulley 93 is driven by a timing belt 95 from a drive pulley 97 on the shaft of a speed reducer unit 101 actuated by an electric motor 99 (see FIG. 1). The clutch 91 may be rendered operative by a solenoid 103 shown in FIG. 3 under control of any suitable mechanism such as a stacked-article counter as hereinbefore referred to. Thus, automatic operation is bad through circuitry which forms no part of our present invention, the same being well known in the art.

The operative connection between the lever 7-8 and the clamp 50 is shown in FIG. 5 and consists of a link pivoted to the lever 78 and an eye bolt 92 which is adjustable relative to the link 90 by means of a pair of lock nuts 94. The eye of the eye bolt 92 is pivoted on a pivot pin 96 carried by the clamp 50.

From the construction of the parts just described it will be obvious that the lever 78 effects reciprocation of the clamp 50 and thereby the slide 38, and also oscillates the lever 46 which in turn reciprocates the slide 40, the directions of reciprocation being opposed to each other.

The clamp jaws 26 and 28 are also thereby reciprocated as hereinbefore described.

Referring to FIG. 1 the transport claws 30 are clamped on a vertical rock shaft 98 and the transport claws 32 are clamped on a vertical rock shaft 100. The rock shafts are journalled in bearings of a carriage 102 shown in FIG. 2, the bearings being shown in greater detail at 104 in FIGS. and 11. The carriage 102 is mounted on a shoe 106 slidable along a pair of stationary bars 108. The carriage is operatively connected to a carriage actuating lever 110 by a link comprising a bracket 112 pivoted to the lever 110 and an eye bolt 114 pivoted to the carriage 102 and its shoe 106 as shown in FIG. 10. FIGS. 2 and 13 illustrate the lever and link connection in plan view. The carriage actuating lever 110 as also shown in FIGS. 2, 12 13 and 14 is pivoted at 116 to a stationary bar 118 and carries a roller 120 held in contact with an internal cam surface 122 of a carriage cam 124 by a spring 126. The cam 124 is mounted on the actuating shaft 87.

On the lower ends of the rock shafts 98 and 100 are arms 128 and 130 respectively as shown in FIGS. 1, 11, 12 and 13. The outer ends of the arms are slotted, and slide blocks 1 32 are slidable therein. The slide blocks are pivoted to a T-shaped head 134 mounted on a slide rod 136 which is slidable in a bore of the shoe 106 as shown in FIG. 11 whereby the T-shaped head 134 is reciprocably mounted with respect to the shoe and the carriage 102.

For reciprocating the head 134 and the slide rod 136 independently of the shoe and carriage, a second link is provided comprising a pivot bracket 1'38- and an eye bolt 140 as shown in FIG. 10. The bracket 138 is pivoted to a claw actuating lever 142 which as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 12, 13 and is pivotally mounted at 114 on a secondary lever 146 pivoted at 148 to a stationary bracket 150. The secondary lever carries a roller 152 engaged with a cam surface of a claw cam 154 by a spring 156. The claw cam 154 is also mounted on the actuating shaft 87 as shown in FIG. 3.

A pivotal connection is provided for the right hand end of the claw actuating lever 142 as shown in FIGS. 1, 12, 13 and 15 and comprises a pivot pin 158 carried by the right hand end of the carriage actuating level 110 in axial alignment with the roller 120 thereon and projecting downwardly into a slide 160 which is slidable in a slot 162 of the claw actuating lever 142. Thus, the oscillations of the lever 142 are produced by a composite of cam actions produced by both the cam 154 and its roller 152, and the cam 124 and its roller 120 as will hereinafter appear. The axial alignment of the pivot pin 158 with the roller 120 is best shown in FIG. 3 wherein is also illustrated means to prevent over-run of the actuating shaft 87 (when the one-revolution clutch 91 releases) in the form of a friction shoe 164 carried by a slide rod 166. The rod is vertically slidable in a stationary bracket 168, and a spring 170 serves to provide the desired degree of friction of the shoe 164 against the carriage cam 124.

The banding elements 12 and 14 may be provided on their facing surfaces with pressure-sensitive adhesive, or they may be coated with a heat-set type of adhesive in which case it is desirable to provide means for heating the clamping jaws 26 and 28. Referring to FIG. 7 heating elements 72 and 74 for this purpose may be embedded in the jaws 26 and 28 respectively. Referring to FIG. 2 heaters 76 are provided for the sides of the trough 10. The heating elements 72 and 74 and the heaters 76 may be of electric type, and may be continuously heated if desired. On the other hand they may be of the radiant type requiring energization only at certain times such as when the banding cycle is being performed by the banding apparatus. Accordingly as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 a normally closed control switch 178 may be provided which is held normally in the open position by a switch cam 180 on the actuating shaft 87. The electric circuit for the heating elements and the heaters is diagrammatically illustrated including current supply wires 182.

In FIG. 12, twelve positions A through L are shown for the transport claws 30 and 32. These positions are a result of both reciprocations of the carriage 102 along the stationary bars 108 and rocking of the rock shafts 98 and 100. The positions of the carriage 102 are elfected through the links 114, 112, the lever 110 and the roller 120 coacting with the cam surface 122 as also shown in FIGS. 13 and 14. In FIG. 12 the lever 142 for oscillating the rock shafts 98 and is in a position directly below the lever 110. The cam surface 122 in FIG. 12 has twelve stations indicated A through L. The corresponding positions of the transport claws 30 and 32 corresponding thereto are indicated POS. A etc. at which various positions hook ends of the transport claws for engaging the stacked and banded articles are shown by dotted lines. The positions are further characterized by &M or &N which correspond to a high dwell M and a low dwell N of the transport claw cam which coact With the roller 152 as shown best in FIG. 15. Accordingly, starting with the full line position shown in FIG. 12, the transport claws 30 and 32 are at positions I, J, K, L, A, B and C and M which is a 200 low dwell as shown from I to D on the cam 124. At the same time the roller 152 is on the high dwell M of the cam 110 in FIG. 12.

It will be noted that a lower dwell occurs from station D to station E on the clam 124 which effects some opening of the transport claws 30, 32 but not enough. Accordingly, by the combination of the lower dwell D to E, the transport claws 30 and 32 are opened even further to the position D, E and N by reason of the roller 152 leaving the high dwell M and entering the low dwell N of the cam 110. Then the transport claws pass through the position F and N and arrive at the position G and N as also shown in FIGS. 13 and 16.

At the time the transport claws close from the position G and N to the position G and N the roller 152 leaves the low dwell portion N of the cam surface of the cam 110 and engages the high dwell surface M to thereby secure the desired additional travel from open to closed position of the transport claws. Thus, by pivoting the lever 142 at 158 (in effect using the roller as a pivot) the cam 124 imparts action to the lever 142 in addition to the action imparted thereto by the roller 152. Because of the linkage arrangement required and as shown in FIG. 15, variations in center-to-center distances as between the pivots 144, 148 and 158 occur which are taken care of by the slide connection of slide in slot 162.

From the foregoing specification it will be obvious that we have provided a banding apparatus suitable for banding stacked articles such as labels, coupons, facing slips and the like with the type of band illustrated in FIG. 9, the resulting banded articles being restrained against disintegration of the assembly by the adhesive facing surfaces of the banding elements adhering to the edges of the labels or the like, yet when the band is broken at one end of the stack the labels may be removed one at a time without difliculty and without disturbing the remaining labels. Thus, a substantial banded package is produced without the necessity of wrapping all six sides of the stack as with usual packaging methods.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of our banding apparatus without departing from the real spirit and purpose of our invention and it is our intention to cover by our claims any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may reasonably by included within their scope.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a banding apparatus for stacked articles, a trough adapted to have a pair of banding elements which have their advance ends adhered together moved into said trough along the side walls thereof 'by the articles as they are stacked therein, said pair of banding elements thereby constituting a band for three sides of the stack of articles;

means for manipulating said pair of banding elements to adhere portions thereof together behind the stack of articles comprising a pair of clamp jaws movable toward each other in a direction laterally of said trough to engage portions of said bands, bend said portions behind the stack of articles and clamp predetermined areas of said portions into adhering relation to each other to form a fourth side of a band for said articles; means for recip rocating said clamp jaws in opposite directions including a slide carrying each jaw and a centrally pivoted lever having its ends operatively connected with the respective slides; said clamp jaws including severing means for said bands at positions intermediate opposite limits of said areas spaced longitudinally of said bands; opposed transport claws adapted to engage the rear end of a stack of articles; and means adapted following severing of said band to actuate said transport claws to bodily move a completed stack thereof to a discharge position, and then return said transport claws to engage the rear end of the next successive stack of articles.

2. A banding apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said severing means comprises a knife associated with one of said clamp jaws, the other of said clamp jaws having a shearing shoulder for coaction with said knife.

3. A banding apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said jaw associated with said knife is fioatingly mounted on the knife and is biased to an advance position relative thereto for clamping action prior to severing action.

4. A banding apparatus according to claim 1 wherein a carriage is provided for supporting said transport claws and is slidable longitudinally of said trough, said transport claws being pivotally mounted on said carriage.

5. In a banding apparatus forstacked articles, a trough adapted to have a pair of banding elements which have their advance ends adhered together moved into said trough along the side walls thereof by the articles as they are stacked therein, said pair of banding elements thereby constituting a band for three sides of the stack of articles; means for manipulating said pair of banding elements to adhere portions'thereof together behind the stack of articles comprising a pair of clamp jaws movable toward each other in a direction laterally of said trough to en-' gage portions of said bands, bend. said portions behind the stack of articlesand clamp predetermined areas of said portions into adhering relation to each other to form a fourth side of a band for said articles; means for reciprocating said clamp jaws in opposite directions including a slide carrying each jaw, a centrally pivoted lever having its ends operatively connected with the respective slides, and means for oscillating said pivoted lever including an actuating shaft and a jaw cam mounted on said actuating shaft and operatively connected with said pivoted lever; and a heating element for each of said clamp jaws and said trough side walls to heat seal said predetermined areas to one another and said banding elements to the side edges of the articles in the stack of articles.

6. A banding apparatus according to claim 5 wherein a normally-closed switch is provided in circuit with said heating elements, and a cam is provided on said actuating shaft to open said switch in a position of rest of said shaft between actuations of said pivoted lever.

7. In a banding apparatus for stacked articles, a trough adapted to have a pair of banding elements which have their advance ends together moved into said trough along the side walls thereof by the articles as they are stacked therein, said pair of banding elements thereby constituting a band for three sides of the stack of articles; means for manipulating said pair of banding elements to adhere portions thereof together behind the stack of articles comprising a pair of clamp jaws movable toward each other 70 in a direction laterally of said trough to engage portions able longitudinally of said trough, said transport claws being pivotally mounted on said carriage, an actuating shaft forsaid carriage and said transport claws, a first lever for sliding said carriage, a second lever for swinging said transport claws, and a pair of cams on said actuating shaft for respective coaction with said first and second levers to oscillate them.

8. A banding apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said second lever is pivoted to said first lever to add the cam action of the cam for the first lever to the cam action of the cam for said second lever whereby added travel for opening and closing said transport claws is had when compared to the cam actuation of the cam for said second lever only.

9. A banding apparatus for stacked articles, a trough adapted to have a pair of banding elements which have their advance ends adhered together moved into said trough along the side walls thereof by the articles as they are stacked therein, said pair of handing elements thereby constituting a band for three sides of the stack of articles; means for manipulating said pair of banding elements to adhere portions thereof together behind the stack of articles comprising a pair of clamp jaws movable toward each other in a direction laterally of said trough to engage portions of said bands, bend said portions behind the stack of articles and clamp predetermined areas of said portions into adhering relation to each other to form a fourth side of a band for said articles, said clamp jaws including severing means for said bands at positions intermediate opposite limits of said areas longitudinally of said bands; opposed transport claws adapted to engage the rear end of a stack of articles, then advance to bodily move a completed stack thereof to a discharge position, and then return to engage the rear end of the next suc cessive stack of articles; a carriage for supporting said transport claws and slidable longitudinally of said trough, said transport claws being pivotally mountedon said carriage; an actuating shaft for said carriage and said transport claws, a first lever for sliding said carriage, a second lever for swinging said transport claws, and a pair of cams on said actuating shaft for respective coaction with said first and second levers to oscillate them.

10. A banding apparatus according to claim 9 wherein said second lever is pivoted to said first lever to add the cam action of the cam for the first lever to the cam action of the cam for said second lever, whereby added travel is produced for opening and closing said transport claws.

References Cited BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner J. D. DEVITT, Assistant Examiner U.S. c1. X.R. 53-198; 156-515 

